SANJEEVINI KSRLPS

Introduction

Marketing of products of the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) is one of the major concerns of the Ministry of Rural Development and State Rural Livelihood Missions. To empower the rural women artisans and to bring them above the poverty line, through access to better market and marketing systems, the Ministry of Rural Development has been supporting the State Rural Livelihood Missions in the organization of exhibitions under the brand name of ‘SARAS’ where SHGs from different states participate and sell their products. ‘SARAS Mela’ is a noteworthy initiative that aims to provide a platform to rural artisans to showcase their skills and products and develop a market for themselves. SARAS Mela provides a lucrative opportunity to rural producers to sell their products directly to customers, to interact with the buyers; to study and comprehend the latter’s tastes, preferences, and choices. Thus, it helps them to upgrade and tailor their products, hone marketing skills, and provide superlative services to consumers while benefiting from larger marketing opportunities.

The Mela aims to eradicate middlemen between the artisans/craftsperson and the local buyers and ensures to increase in the margins for the artisans. SARAS Mela also aims at facilitating and motivating the Self- Help Groups (SHGs with an opportunity for exposure and interaction on a large scale. it also provides a national level exposure to understand the demand and taste of the urban customers in metros.

Description

Sanjeevini – KSRLPS has organized National SARAS Mela from 8th April to 18th April 2022 (10 days) in Bangalore. It is setting up 320-350 stalls that display the skills, potential, and hard work of our women from across the state and participating SHG micro-enterprises from 20+ states in the country. The products range from handlooms, handicrafts, artifacts and heritage products, garments, tribal products, decorative items, metallic products, earthen utensils, paintings, organic food items, spices, processed food products, soft toys, utility items, metal products, terracotta products, wooden products, and many other exclusive items. Cultural programs will also be arranged as a part of the Mela every evening including performances by women artists from various districts to attract the public and entertain people who visited the Mela venue. Sanjeevini will organize a few workshops for the women participants for honing their soft skills as well as skills in packaging, managing consumers, etc during the Mela. An All-India Food Court will also be set up through Kudumbashree NRO, the State Poverty Eradication Mission of Kerala, which is an empanelled resource organization of MoRD.

SANJEEVINI KSRLPS

During the 10 days fare, the KSRLPS team has planned a few capacity-building interactive, workshops and sessions. Some of them are;

Launch of the Start-up challenge: KSRLPS is inviting start-ups with solutions that help to develop and scale livelihood opportunities for Self Help Groups and rural youth (products, services, technology).

Business Skills training for Micro-entrepreneurs: We would be covering topics on business planning, MSME Udyam registrations, GST registration, essentials of financial management etc

CSR Roundtable: to explore corporate CSR for SHG women-led enterprises in the areas of mentorship, capacity building, packaging-branding-marketing, and scale.

Corporate buyer partnerships for marketing the Self- Help Groups women and Artisan’s products: We are seeking 15-20 corporates committed to purchasing SHG and artisan’s products for their business and gifting purposes.

Inspiration session from Women achievers and facilitation : Women achievers can be a great inspiration for the hundreds of participating SHG women and everyone else. We would like to create an opportunity for the women to learn about their work, journey, and achievements through this interactive session.

Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Mission is inviting participation and support from Corporate buyers, CSR heads, Women Leaders, and other eco-system players to make this event a successful one.